Where is the best place to farm essence of shadow?

[valans]

I was told there are 3 shadowed men camps in Lavastorm but I only know of one that isn't too far from the nek forest zone. I know there is a small camp in SK and one in WC. But where is the best?

[Zeralenn]

Depends on your definition of "best".

First, if you look carefully, there are more than 3 shadowed men at the Lavastorm camp. There are actually 5 or 6 (don't recall which). The are hard to see.

I will hunt both camps, but prefer the Lavastorm camp. I never hunt the Nektulos camp, although I have tried it. Here is my analysis of all three camps, having hunted at both extensively. (I have never hunted the South Karana camp because of its remoteness).

The West Commons camp is easier to pull. It's flat, and you can see the shadowed men much more easily. However, it is also more likely to be taken and you are more likely to get begged by newbies at this camp.

The Lavastorm camp is more difficult to pull, since it is on top of a steep platform. Sometimes it can be very hard to see when there is one of the mobs kind of sitting in the back. Unless you are high enough level to pull these singly reliably, managing adds here is more difficult because of the need to get in more closely to see what is going on.

The Nektulos camp is down inside a pit and there are 3 or 4 shadowed men that are almost impossible to see.

So why don't I prefer WC to Lavastorm? I seem to get a better essence drop rate in Lavastorm. I have camped both several times, and seem to average twice as many essence per hour in Lavastorm than in West Commons (about 14-15 per hour in LS versus 6-7 per hour in WC -- varying by day and luck, but this is what I have found).

I don't do Nek because there are fewer spawn, it's difficult to see, and the drop rate REALLY sucks. Plus, every time I spend time in Nek, I get my butt begged off for plat or items or PLage.

Just my experience.

...Zera

[valans]

There are about 5 shadowed men at the one camp in LS at the obelisk. Is that the only camp in LS that has shadowed men? Killing shadowed men isn't that big of a deal i would rather have 30 pulled and just AE, but thats not possible

[Ladnia]

I've become quite fond of the camp in Lesser Faydark. They've fixed Equestrielle now, so she doesn't come running from across the zone to pound on me now, and the brownies don't path anywhere near the area. The shadowed men are on a little platform, but the area around it flat and makes it easy to pull and fight them. It's a really quiet zone, hardly anyone around.

[OberonMiM]

actually the number of shadowmen at the camp seems to rotate. strangely enough ive seen 4-6 up at a full spawn (on and there are 3 in the nek forest camp with 1 stuck under the world in the hill)

[Kramadon]

Lavastorm camp is by far my favorite. It has three spawn points that in any given rotation will net you one to four (yes, I had 12 shadowed men once, I did a happy happy joy joy dance). Lavastorm also has the bonus of being remote - so not a lot of "buff plz" although with the Solusek dungeons, I get a lot of "rez plz." The putrid bile I grab off of the unfortunate fire drakes that wander by is great, too - rogue make poison component.

I couldn't vouch for the other camps being better or worse, as I haven't farmed them (although a guild monk did the Kithicor camp overnight just to say he could). Hope this helps!

Kramadon SoulStealer
60 Cleric
Karana Server

[Moraganth]

the camps are mostly the same.. with 3 "spawnpoints" for groups. The groups may be 1-4 mobs. The nek forest one only has 2 spawnpoints, so it tends to have less mobs to deal with.

From personal experience, and your milage may vary, the lavastorm camp is the nicest for drops. Second would be the WC and LFay ones. Third would be Nek forest and SK, although the SK one is a pain to see until you're right on top of them. Innothule was decent, probably about what WC and LFay was.. but i heard (uncomfirmed) that it was removed when they redid the zone.

[Zeralenn]

Yes, the shadowed men camp was removed from Innothule when the frogs moved in.

...Zera

[Kcalehc]

At the WC camp I have seen up to 8 shadowed men at any one time. Often after killing one, 2 or 3 will spawn in its place though they are invariably of the same type.
The shadowed Men come in 5 'flavours'
Monk types - Invisible but for the name floating above their heads.
Warrior types - You can see the wepons they hold.
Cleric types - Carry a scepter/orb thing, heal themselves and dispell you occasionally.
Necro types - Carry a book and summon a skeletal pet (if you get them quick enough after they spawn they wont have summoned a pet in time). wil cast a DS on them selves. Cast Boil Blood, Darkness, Fear and Shock of Poison on you. Can be quite nasty if you pull a couple at once.
Warrior/Necro - Very rare, looks like a warrior but casts and has a pet drops some quest piece.

Having killed a stupidly large amount of them I havent noticed Essences dropping from any one any more than any other and usually get about 6-8 an hour (and more than enough plat to cover travel and bandaging costs).

[amphitryon001]

Do the shadow men loop

One thing I do to keep from being bored silly hunting shadow men is I do a circuit of pretty much ALL the camps (thank PoP for making this possible)

1) lavastorm
2) nek
3) wc
4) kithicor
5) run back to FP, click back to PoK, then drop down to the swamp
6) swamp
7) click back up to PoK, then down to GFay, then head to Lfay
8) lfay
9) head back to gfay, click back to PoK , the back to Nektulos
10) start over

its a more entertaining version of hunting essences than just sittin in one spot waitig for pops. plus by the time the circuit is complete, they wil have all repopped